Robert Heinlein
TANSTAAFL
Self-reliant liberty in fiction.
Heterodox MinarchistOne of 729 ideologies · enter the Minarchist hall →- Role
- Author
- Era
- 1907–1988
- Region
- United States
- Social band
- Heterodox
- Placement
- +5 · −74 · +30
§ Where Robert Heinlein stands
3 axesHeinlein sits just right of centre economically. His fiction prizes self-reliance, contracts and personal responsibility, and The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress (1966) popularised TANSTAAFL, the maxim that nothing comes free. But he never wrote economic doctrine, and as a young man he campaigned for Upton Sinclair's socialist-tinged End Poverty in California movement in 1934.
Distrust of coercion runs through his work. The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress (1966) imagines a lunar society with no laws and a professor preaching rational anarchism, and Starship Troopers (1959) depicts an all-volunteer army in a world without conscription, which he opposed. Yet he accepted a strong national defence, and in 1958 he campaigned publicly against a moratorium on American nuclear testing.
Heinlein's social views were unconventional and often provocative. Stranger in a Strange Land (1961) celebrated free love, communal living and a new religion, and later novels explored group marriage and sexual freedom. Alongside this permissiveness sat an old-fashioned code of duty, courage and patriotism, which keeps his progressivism idiosyncratic rather than programmatic.
How close are you to Robert Heinlein?
Three statements, one per axis. Answer them and we’ll drop you on the compass next to them.
§ The story
HistoricalRobert Anson Heinlein (1907–1988) was an American science-fiction writer, often called the dean of the genre. Born in Butler, Missouri, and raised in Kansas City, he graduated from the US Naval Academy in 1929 and served as a naval officer until tuberculosis forced his retirement in 1934. After working for Upton Sinclair's EPIC campaign and running unsuccessfully for the California State Assembly in 1938, he published his first story in 1939 and went on to win four Hugo Awards for best novel.
Heinlein's politics travelled from New Deal liberalism to fierce anti-communism and a self-reliant libertarianism, and his fiction carried those ideas to millions. Starship Troopers (1959), with its franchise reserved for veterans of voluntary federal service, drew accusations of militarism, while Stranger in a Strange Land (1961) became a touchstone of the counterculture. The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress (1966) gave the libertarian movement its favourite slogan, TANSTAAFL. In 1975 he became the first Grand Master of the Science Fiction Writers of America.
Notable for
- 01'The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress'
- 02Popularised 'TANSTAAFL'
- 03Libertarian SF archetype
Key works & moments
- 1934Leaves the navy with tuberculosis and campaigns for Upton Sinclair's EPIC movement in California.
- 1939Publishes his first story, Life-Line, in Astounding Science Fiction.
- 1958With his wife Virginia, campaigns against a moratorium on US nuclear testing.
- 1959Starship Troopers imagines a society where only veterans of federal service may vote.
- 1961Stranger in a Strange Land becomes a touchstone of the 1960s counterculture.
- 1966The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress popularises the libertarian slogan TANSTAAFL.
§ Minds closest to Robert Heinlein
All minds →
§ Also in the Minarchist hall
Enter the hall →§ Common questions
4 answersWhat was Robert Heinlein's political ideology?
Robert Heinlein was a libertarian-leaning individualist whose politics moved from the New Deal left to anti-communist self-reliance: on the 99ideologies three-axis compass, a Heterodox Minarchist. Economically he sits just right of centre (+5), celebrating self-reliance without espousing a detailed economic creed. On governance he was strongly libertarian (−74), suspicious of coercion and conscription, and socially he was moderately progressive (+30), mixing sexual permissiveness with a traditional code of duty and patriotism.
Was Robert Heinlein left-wing or right-wing?
Both, at different times, and neither fully. In the 1930s he was a left-wing Democrat who worked for Upton Sinclair's EPIC campaign. From the 1950s he was a hawkish anti-communist whose Starship Troopers was attacked as militaristic, yet Stranger in a Strange Land was embraced by the counterculture. His enduring core was libertarian individualism: distrust of government, love of personal freedom and insistence on responsibility, which is why both the libertarian right and parts of the left have claimed him.
Was Robert Heinlein a libertarian?
Largely, though his views were idiosyncratic. The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress (1966) is a canonical libertarian novel, and his recurring themes of self-reliance, opposition to conscription and suspicion of government made him a hero of the libertarian movement. But his politics changed over his life: he began as a New Deal Democrat, and in later decades he combined individualism with strong support for military strength. Libertarian is the closest single label, provided it is understood as a temperament rather than a doctrine.
Which minds are closest to Robert Heinlein?
On the 99ideologies three-axis compass, the minds closest to Robert Heinlein are Manuel 'Mannie' O'Kelly (98% alike), Harry Browne (98% alike) and The Grey-Market Smuggler (archetype) (94% alike). The furthest is Adam Sutler (10% alike).